Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador… In recent weeks, bird flu alerts have multiplied in South America and are forcing many countries to contain or even sacrifice part of their bird population.
At the moment, the main concern is Peru, or “nearly 13,000 pelicans” were found dead, affected by the H5N1 virus, according to the website The country America.
In Lima, the authorities of the Miraflores district have even banned access to the beach “until the collection of the carcasses of pelicans killed by the disease is completed”, reports from him infobae.
This week Ecuador notified the United Nations of an outbreak in the city of Cotopaxi. After declaring a ninety-day health alert, “180,000 poultry will be sacrificed”, about 0.15% of the country’s poultry population, according to the Minister of Agriculture, Bernardo Manzano, cited by the media First fruits.
In Colombia, five departments were hit this week, according to the Colombian Institute of Agriculture (ICA). However, specifies the organization in a statement taken from the newspaper The viewer what “the presence of the disease in the country does not affect the production and consumption of eggs and chicken meat”. The disease is difficult to transmit to humans.
Threat to the poultry industry
Venezuela also declared a ninety-day health alert in five states, “Confronted with the presence of bird flu in coastal pelicans”, relationships Cocuyo effect.
More alarmist than its neighbors, says the Venezuelan Ministry of Science and Technology “Highly pathogenic avian influenza can spread rapidly, destroy more than 90% of poultry farms and devastate the poultry industry”. For this reason, the movement of live birds and eggs from the affected locations has been prohibited.
While most authorities insist that cases of transmission of avian flu to humans are rare and generally result from contact with animal excrement, they nonetheless call for caution.
Especially since the United States, Canada and Mexico are also affected by a wave of bird flu, which is shaking chicken and turkey producers a few days before Christmas.
